GOKONGWEI-OWNED budget carrier Cebu Pacific expects to carry over 10 million passengers by the end of the year?the most in the company?s history?as the acquisition of additional aircraft allows it to add flights to key destinations.

In a statement, the company said it expects the delivery of four new Airbus A320 planes between October this year and January 2011.

The airline flew a total of 4.1 million domestic passengers in the first half of the year, which is 1.2 million more than rival Philippine Airlines? (PAL) 2.8 million domestic passengers.

This translates to a year-on-year growth of 13 percent for Cebu Pacific and a 48-percent market share in the domestic air travel sector.

Data for international passenger traffic in the first half have not yet been released.

?We hope to carry even more passengers as we expect delivery of four more brand-new Airbus aircraft from October 2010 to January 2011,? said Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and distribution.

?Twenty more brand-new Airbus aircraft will be delivered until 2014. We will use all these to add more frequencies, routes and flights to lower our fares even further and provide even more travel convenience to guests,? she said.

CEB operates an extensive network, including Boracay (Caticlan), Puerto Princesa, Dumaguete, Cebu, Davao and Bacolod.

It flies 30 direct domestic flights from Manila, 19 direct flights from Cebu, five direct flights from Davao and one flight from Clark.

It also flies to Brunei, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Osaka, Seoul (Incheon), Jakarta, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh, Taipei, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur.

The airline?s Beijing service will be launched on Sept. 5.

The Philippines? largest airline in terms of number of passengers flown, Cebu Pacific operates the youngest aircraft fleet in the country, with 21 Airbus and 8 ATR 72-500 aircraft.